al-Ashʿath b. Qays al-Kindī, Abū Muḥammad (d. ca. 40 or 41/660 or 661) was a character of some renown in the history of the first half of the 1st/7th century. He was the chief of the influential Yemeni tribe of Kinda, which had constituted a ruling dynasty in the Pre-Islamic era; he played an important part in many of the significant events of his age from the time of his conversion to Islam in 10/631 until his death. Reports concerning him have been the subject of contention by historians, largely on account of his ambiguous relationship with the ʿAlids.

The Kinda tribe were Arabs of souther…